How small a buck would you shoulder mount?

[Sask hunter]

Booner due to space and $$$

 

[buffybr]

Since this thread started over 2 years ago, I wonder what 406LIFE did with his 3x4 Mulie buck????

I think a lot of hunters ask themselves this same question every year. I know I have. It's an individual decision and only you can answer it yourself. Unless your married.

Personally, I like taxidermy mounts better than European. I like them so much that 30 years ago I built a 30'x35' addition to my house just for my taxidermy. Now that addition is too small. I've set myself other limits, like mounting only one animal per species, but then I shoot a larger one and mount it, then another larger one and mount it until now I have 7 pronghorn antelope mounts on my wall. I have limited myself to only 2 mounts per species on several African animals and on one of my caribou species, and only my 2 best 6x6 bull elk. I also didn't shoot a moose in Newfoundland last year because I didn't see one larger than the 2 Montana Shiras moose that I have mounted. So far I have also limited my deer mounts to only my best typical and non-typical mule and whitetail bucks, however I am still looking for bigger ones. I also had shoulder mounts done on my 3 Bighorn rams because they deserve it.

Last month I shot a 3x3 Sitka blacktail buck on Alaska's Kodiak Island. I don't know if I'll ever go back there on another deer hunt, and it's an older buck with fairly heavy antlers, and it would make a pretty mount, and it will become my smallest deer mount, so I did take it to my taxidermist to be mounted.

If all hunters thought like Sask hunter, there would be a lot of taxidermists out of work, and most of our trophy rooms would be pretty empty.

 

[Dakhunter]

amen sask hunter on last paragraph. A "Mount" of a whitetail for instance.........(personally) means "better than average" or whatever you wanna call it, an animal that is an "instant shooter"......
Spending money you earned like mounts costs now days means the the thing better me a dandy. Just my opinion. and as always its all relative to where you hunt, a 125" may be a good one in area and plentiful in another

 

[88man]

I mounted a spike buck my daughter shot when she was 7 years old

 

[Cheater]

So many personal variables go into that have already been mentioned. A euro doesn't prohibit you from doing a shoulder mount later on, but visa versa doesn't work well. I don't have any euros that I'm kicking myself for not doing shoulder mounts on, but I do wish I had fewer shoulder mounts. Shoulder mounts for me going forward will only be on exceptional animals, otherwise euros will be just great.

 

[EYJONAS!]

I mounted a spike buck my daughter shot when she was 7 years old

That's awesome

 

[fishing4sanity]

The meaningfulness of the animal plays a key role in the taxidermy question for me. Who was I hunting with, where, how difficult, etc? A friend of mine with a rather extensive collection of taxidermy, has his children's and his wife's 'firsts' done in shoulder mounts regardless of size, even if it's a doe. I can tell those mounts are very meaningful to him. If it's your money, it's your choice.

 

[Pucky Freak]

My friend shot a very old WT buck years ago that was mostly deaf and blind, lots of character - sagging skin, scars, grey. Rack was stubby. Very likely coyote food before winter's end. He wanted a shoulder mount but had just dropped $$ on a typical 8-pt earlier that year and if was already regretting it, and not even back from the taxidermist yet.

I'm not sure I'll ever do a shoulder mount as I really like skull mounts, and the process of doing them myself. I think I'll know I want to get a shoulder mount only after I see the animal, and it probably will have little to do with size and more about wanting to remember a particular hunt in a unique way.

 

[Dsnow9]

It all depends how big the story is. I’m a big fan of euros and haven’t shoulder mounted anything yet. I guess I would need to buy a new house with taller ceilings to make shoulder mounts worth it. 8 ft ceilings don’t lend themselves well to a shoulder mount.

 

[geetar]

I mounted a spike buck my daughter shot when she was 7 years old

Don’t blame you at all. I’d most likely do the same.

 

[belshawelk]

If you like it mount it. To me a mount isn’t about the animal as much the memory and your enjoyment. My mounts are in my office. I look at them everyday and enjoy them cause it allows me to remember the hunt. Mount what you like and enjoy it.

 

[Carl 9.3x62]

I'd recommend doing the shoulder mount yourself. You can buy a fairly cheap kit from Van Dykes. The mounting process is fun. And who knows it may even turn out half decent.

 

[ImBillT]

The first buck I had shoulder mounted(and only one so far) came from my first out of state hunt, to this day it was my hardest single hunt day(although only by a little bit), my dad helped me on the pack-out, and it was my largest buck at that time. It was a mule deer that grossed 153”. A lot of mounting it came from the experience. I’d originally had a 160” goal for a wall hanger, AND for shooting a mule on that hunt, as it was very possible to do better there and my primary motivation at the time had been to shoot something I could not have shot at home. In the end, it was a great experience that started an addiction, and by the time I got home, I new I wanted it mounted. I shot a great buck two weeks later at home, and two great ones the next year before the mount was finished. When he came in, I was very glad I mounted him.

All of my non-spike bucks are euro’d. My wife’s first spike has its antlers glued to a plaque along with the empty case from the shot that killed it. It’s memories man. A lot of things make a trophy besides the inches. I’m getting to the point that I may even stop measuring them. It doesn’t make the experience better. The experience was what it was before you put the tape on it, and it’s yours, but anyone else’s..

The mule deer I shot this year grossed somehwere around 135” green. I saved the cape cause I thought he looked wonderful. He has dark horns, great mass, decent width, decent front forks, decent hight on his G3’s. He would easily score 15” bigger if he had normal G2’s. They only stick out about 1” past the fork at the G3’s. Wouldn’t be a monster even with normal G2’s, but he has wall appeal in my book, and a lot more of it than 135” gross would tell you. I did throw the cape out, but that was to make room in the freezer for my wife’s cape when she shot her first mule deer the next weekend.

At mtmuley pointed out, do what you want, it’s about what YOU want.

 

[406LIFE]

Since this thread started over 2 years ago, I wonder what 406LIFE did with his 3x4 Mulie buck????

I ended up doing a euro on it. My uncle shot a buck, his first in a very long time (story is on here somewhere.) But he did not cape it out well. I have him mine to complete the shoulder mount to go next to his first deer. I felt really good about that.

I could just go buy a cape and put one of my larger bucks in it. But that seems false to me. I've got a monthly taxidermy bill already, so many birds to be done. I guess my lesson was if you needed to think about it, probably didn't need to do it.

 

[Ajax2744]

Anything that has a special meaning deserves to be mounted, even does. But of course I am saying this...I'm a taxidermist...

 

[Igor]

Small is relative. Do what makes you happy. mtmuley

Could not agree more. I am not a mount type of guy in any form. In 50 years of hunting I have never shoulder mounted anything. Have a bunch of horns hanging in the shop rafters though.